Imperius Reavers
The Imperius Reavers is an Imperial Space Marine Chapter and a Successor Chapter of the legendary Ultramarines, created sometime in the 32nd Millennium during the Fourth Founding. The Chapter's homeworld is the Hive World of Praedis Zeta in the Vidar Sector, which is located in the Eastern Fringe of the galaxy at the farthest edge of the Ultramarines' Realm of Ultramar. This volatile region is under constant siege by the twin threats of the alien and the daemon. The Imperius Reavers Space Marines are adept at hunting aliens, having been embroiled in many wars with the Tyranids in years past. Their 2nd Company, known on Praedis Zeta as "The Stormbringers," are veterans of the First Tyrannic War and experts in rooting out Genestealer hybrids. Chapter History Led into battle by their vigilant Chapter Master, Vassile Belousov, the Imperius Reavers are a Fourth Founding Chapter of the Ultramarines. Given the Vidar Sector, which lies in the Eastern Fringe, as their demesne, the Imperius Reavers were assigned the Hive World of Praedis Zeta as their Chapter homeworld. It is fortunate that such a stalwart Chapter watches over this turbulent region of the galaxy, for the Vidar Sector has long been the home of cut-throats, aliens and Heretics. While Imperial in name, and with many of the planets and star systems here paying heavy tithes to the Emperor of Mankind's coffers, Vidar is, in truth, ruled by a small number of wealthy noble families called the "Highborn." These families, such as the Fett'ars of Hypnoth, the Darneth Clan of Carnae and the Zaitchesks of Davatas, have all risen to power through diplomatic wrangling, including flexing political power, assassination, temporary alliances and other such un-Imperial means, but so far from the Terran eye, they have avoided investigation for centuries. While the ruling classes of Vidar live in corpulent luxury, the serfs beneath them toil at the machines of the forges to produce arms, food and supplies for sale to the Imperial armies. Notable Campaigns *'The Cleansing of Praedis-Zeta (645.M39)' - In the year 645 of the 39th Millennium, it was a time of great strife and conflict across the galaxy. Four hundred standard years earlier, one of the wealthy families of the Vidar Sector, the Calcerarius of the Darkfall System, saw their power uprooted by an invasion of the most foul kind. The Calcearius clan, led by Februss, fled for their lives to the planet Praedis Zeta, there to seek sanctuary in the coming centuries. It was here that the Calcearius family managed to rise to the upper echelons of Hive Primus, using careful diplomacy to gain the Planetary Governor's favour. Headed by Bijall, ancestor of Februss, the family regained a fraction of their former political power. Some years past, Bijall Calcearius began acting very strangely. Normally a very sly and politically involved man, he had begun to remove himself from diplomatic society and shut himself away in his chambers for solar weeks at a time. Concerned for his health (and the political upheaval his death would cause), Bijall's kin spread the rumour that he had been called away on important family business. In fact, he would spend many solar hours poring over ancient and forbidden texts and conducting his experiments. Rumour spread of these experiments and their heinous biological nature, and before long, infants in his household were being born with an unnatural appearance; hybrids of a most bestial kind. Bijall had changed; he appeared off-colour and some said he could wield the psychic power of the Warp. Suspicions were aroused and the local branch of the Inquisition called for. But before he could be restrained for questioning and tests, he escaped into the Polis region of Hive Primus to continue his vile experiments. The Adeptus Arbites sent out search parties but to no avail -- he had disappeared to continue his work and the children of Polis were doomed to mutation. Word soon reached the Imperius Reavers -- a grave xenos threat had infiltrated Hive Primus; Bijall Calcearius was a vile Genestealer Cult Magus of terrible power and had begun to organically alter the population of Praedis Zeta. Using primitive Tyranid DNA, he had slowly begun to turn the innocent citizens of Hive Primus into hideous Genestealer hybrids -- mindless creatures to serve his will. Hell-bent on the destruction of life on this planet in preparation for the invasion of a Tyranid Hive Fleet, the Bijall Cult was out for blood. With riots on the streets and Imperial authority undermined, there was no time to lose. The Reavers, led by their Chapter Master, Vassile Belousov, quickly mobilised, sending messages to local Imperial allies of the threat. The xenos were to be purged at all costs. The Reavers had fought alongside their Founding Chapter in the First Tyrannic War, and the notion of the genetic abominations created by the Genestealers on Praedis Zeta was abhorrent to the Astartes. They would stop at nothing to clear their home planet of this alien threat and were utterly merciless in their pursuit of their goal. Ultimately, after a brutal and hard-fought campaign and much loss of innocent life, the Imperius Reavers were successful in cleansing their homeworld of the Genestealer taint. Chapter Gene-Seed The Ultramarines' gene-seed is by far the purest stock of Astartes gene-seed in the Imperium and there are no known aberrations in its genetic structure. Every one of the esoteric organs utilised in the arduous creation of a Space Marine by the Imperius Reavers Chapter is fully functional. The terrible schism known as the Horus Heresy highlighted weaknesses inherent in the gene-seed of several other Space Marine Legions and this was exacerbated by the accelerated zygote harvesting techniques used to keep the Legions up to full strength during that terrible conflict. When the Legions were broken down into Chapters after the Heresy, a genetic repository was set up on Terra to store their gene-seed and monitor its purity. As the largest of the Space Marine Legions, the Ultramarines' contributions to this resource was greater than that of any other Legion and, as a result, their gene-seed became the stock type for many subsequent Chapters of later Foundings. Those Chapters created from the Ultramarines gene-seed stored on Terra venerate Roboute Guilliman as their founding Primarch. Chapter Homeworld ]] A large, Class Alpha Hive World, Praedis Zeta is situated eighty light years from the Forge World of Hypnoth. Along with the nearby planet, Nyx, Praedis Zeta has long supplied Hypnoth with the raw materials with which the tools of war are to be built. Towering hive cities stretch up to the black-lined clouds of the planet, housing billions of citizens, and breaking up the miles of bare ash waste of the planet's volcanic surface. Praedis Zeta is not like other planets in the Vidar Sector -- it is not ruled by a Highborn family, but instead by proper Imperial authorities; Planetary Governor Holt keeps watch over the planet's population and ensures the correct taxes are paid. The reason for this strict compliance is that Praedis Zeta is the home planet of the Imperius Reavers, a Chapter of Adeptus Astartes founded from the vaunted Ultramarines. Here, nobody dares step out of line and punishment for offenders has historically been very harsh. Notable Imperius Reavers *'Chapter Master Vassile Belousov' - Current Chapter Master of the Imperius Reavers Chapter. *'Captain Nickolias Bates' - Captain Bates is the current commander of the xenos-hunting 2nd Company, "The Stormbringers". Chapter Appearance Chapter Colours The Imperius Reavers wear a unique halved-heraldry of red (right) and black (left) Power Armour. In lieu of an Aquila or Imperialis on the chest guard, the Imperius Reavers often substitute these icons with their own Chapter iconography. It is not currently known what squad or company markings they use to identify themselves with, but as an Ultramarines' Successor Chapter, they more than likely emulate the practices of their Progenitor forebears very closely. Chapter Badge The Imperius Reavers' Chapter badge is a white "Omega" letter drawn from the Greek alphabet, in emulation of their Ultramarines progenitors, superimposed over a gladius sword, centred on a field of red. Sources *''Warhammer 40,000: Campaign Weekend - Vidar's Fate: Praedis Zeta'' (PDF) - (Available Here) Category:I Category:Imperium Category:Space Marine Chapters Category:Space Marines Category:Ultramarines